U.S. stocks had dropped more than 2 percent by early afternoon, as mounting concern about heavy debt loads both domestically and abroad increased uncertainty in an already troubled and volatile market, Reuters reported.

A U.S. congressional committee was expected to concede it had failed to reach a deal after three months of talks about taxes and spending in an attempt to slash the deficit.

The developments in Washington and Europe created further headwinds for the stock market and could extend the previous week’s losses.

“People are just wary to commit heavily to the market if you’ve got a particular day that no particular good news came out over the weekend anywhere — there is virtually no good news, and several data points were negative,” said Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Merlin Securities in New York.

In addition, Moody’s said a recent rise in interest rates on French government debt and weaker economic growth prospects could be negative for the country’s credit rating.